Stories of an Irishman in Barcelona
by cuckoo clover
Summary: A trip to sunny, vibrant Barcelona, away from his sleepy hometown in County Mayo. Seán reckoned that it was a nice getaway for a change, though he soon discovers that no, his trip was not all sunshine and excitement like his brochure promised. Fortunately, a friendly Spaniard named Antonio was willing to guide the way.


A trip to Barcelona, Spain, a seaside city seeped to the brim with culture and history. What could go wrong?

So the original plan was to go to the hostel place, put his belongings there and then go explore Barcelona's central square before coming back for the night. The only problem was that his taxi had been late for a few hours. Now Seán was patient enough to wait for an extra hour inside the airport. Or two. Maybe not three though. As the fourth hour wheeled in, Seán knew that something was off. He phoned the taxi company only to find out that the taxis had been on strike, which to his horror meant that he would need to go to the hostel by public transport. From that moment forth, Seán knew that his Barcelona trip will not be all smooth sailings as he had thought.

So off to public transport he went… except that there were some ahem, hiccups on the way. God must've been reminding him to go on a diet cause as soon as Seán stepped onto a bus an audible pop outside scared the living daylights out of him. Air whistled outside of a tire as the bus sank, and bright red, Seán stepped off the bus. Not wanting to be responsible for another bus' popped tire, he ditched transport by bus and set off to go on a train.

Going by train would've been okay, better even, considering how trains are faster than buses.

Except that he forgot to print out the train's route.

Oh, come on! The sky was turning an orange shade. Seán rolled his eyes. Print out the bus route, he said. He won't need the train's, he said. With no Google maps to save him, (hey! Don't blame him for not getting a SIM card, his taxi could've come at any time until he found out it was on strike) Seán got a map and followed the route.

As one can imagine, that took a long time. How long had it been since he had been to the wrong place? Hours? Months? Donkey years? Who knows?

Seán dragged his luggage across the street, trying to find the hostel. The hostel should be in this district, don't worry, he checked all the other options.

But finally, at last, the hostel was in sight! No proverb in the world can describe the euphoria he experienced!

Seán stumbled over to the door and rung the doorbell. A long-haired man answered the door. Looking down, he saw Seán's luggage and smiled.

"Bienvenido!"

Séan smiled and gave the owner a thumbs up before his face toppled onto the floor everything went black.

* * *

Was he dead? Seán cracked open his eyes. There was a smooth golden light everywhere. Yep, seemed like it.

As his eyesight focused, he realised that there was a silhouette in front of him. A beautiful brunet angel with bright, olive green eyes and the brightest pearly white smile greeted him.

True, he may be dead, but "aw feck, good thing God sent his best angel."

"Pardon?"

Seán snapped out of his sleep. He blinked, waiting for his vision to clear. It took him a second to realise that no, he was not dead, he was still in the hostel. It was nighttime. The hostel had pale yellow walls that glowed in the lighting, and there was this brunet man…

_Jesus Christ the man was real. _Which wouldn't be bad, he had to admit, except that he heard every word of that! Well, time to meet his maker. Might as well say some last words.

"You've, you've heard that?" Seán let out a small chuckle in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere. Best last words? No. Not in a long shot. "Heh... Sorry, I mumble weird things when I'm half asleep…"

"Yeah, shinned something?" Seán blinked. Shinned? Oh, right, Send, shinned, that sounded similar in his thick Mayo accent. _Oh, sweet, merciful God,_ he thought as tears of joy pricked at his eyes. _Thank you for the one time my strong accent actually had a functional purpose!_

"Ah yes! It was a weird shins dream." Not the best lie but hey, dreams were weird. The man flashed a smile and nodded. He had dimples on the sides of his cheeks, Seán noticed. How cute. Relieved that everything turned out ok in the end, Seán smiled too.

The man stuck out a hand. "I'm Antonio!"

Seán reached forward and shook it. "Name's Seán."

After they finished their handshake, Séan realised that he was lying on a chair. Didn't he fall onto the floor near the entrance? A glance on the floor later and his bags were right next to the chair, which wouldn't be there unless someone moved them…

"Jesus, did I black out?!"

The co-owner glanced to the side as he stroked his chin. "Well… yes. You collapsed in front of the doorway so we had to move you!"

"Ah. Well, yes, fair enough!" Seán exhaled. "As long as nobody else saw…" Antonio widened his eyes and grimaced as he glanced to the side. "Yes?" Seán slumped onto the chair. "Oh. Of course. Hahah. Imagine that, you think you're in for a good holiday and you see this guy asleep on a chair!"

"Haha! Poor guests, thinking that we only offer chairs for sleeping in." Seán chortled. He's funny. Though as Antonio stood up, Seán's eyes caught something next to Antonio's seat.

A walking cane. How come?

Following Seán's gaze, Antonio looked down. "The cane? Yes! Erhm… heh, sprained ankle. Anyway-!" Antonio walked forward to the mini reception area at the front. "We still need to sign you in," he reminded. Seán zipped open his bags and plucked out his passport before following Antonio to the entrance.

While Antonio signed him in and all that, Seán furrowed his brows. Antonio has a similar hair colour and hair type as that other guy, though his hair was definitely shorter.

"Hey, there was this other fella with long hair…"

"Ah, that's my brother, he's the owner! I help out sometimes." Seán raised an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah! Heh. No wonder he sort of looked like you."

"Only barely," Antonio added with a stern yet playful lilt. "Oooh, you're Irish!" He said as he flipped through the passport. "I thought I've heard an accent!" Welp, he's heard an accent alright. "Dublin or Cork?"

Seán blinked. "Ah." He shook his head and shrugged. "Neither! I'm from County Mayo!"

"Mayo?" Antonio stroked his chin. "Hah, I'm surprised it's not a French province!" At that, Seán grinned.

"Hah! Pair that with quiche Lorraine province and we're good to go!"

For the rest of the evening, Seán and Antonio chatted and joked and Seán had to admit, it made up for unable to sightsee today. Seán spat the toothpaste into the sink and rinsed off the foam on his mouth.

But hey, tomorrow is another day, he reminded himself. He planned a day to stay inside so maybe he could just use that day up or something. After he changed into his pyjamas, Séan peeled back the bed covers and toppled into bed, content that he can finally rest.

* * *

_**This is one of my first attempts at a majorly humorous fic, not too sure how well it's translating haha. Sort of feels stale. Constructive criticism's very much welcome! Especially in terms of comedic timing and wording as well as describing things, as well as characterisation**_

_**EDIT: sorry folks, but I'm afraid I can't continue this fic. Sean, Antonio and Joao are vastly underdeveloped and the humour is not working at all. Thank you for reading, and to those who stuck around for the next update, sorry.**_


End file.
